One of the more long lasting and exciting types of toys provided for use by young people is generally described as miniature toy vehicles. Such toy vehicles come in a virtually endless variety of shapes, sizes and configurations with most replicating one or more of the vehicles normally used. In certain types of toy vehicles, additional realism is provided by including sound producing mechanisms which provide engine sounds similar to those produced by actual operational vehicles.
One such sound producing toy vehicle is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,080,678 issued to Girz which sets forth a VEHICULAR TOY WITH ACOUSTIC SIGNAL in which a toy vehicle includes a plurality of sound producing or musical devices including a simulated horn or siren. The sound producing devices are operatively coupled to switching means which in turn are controllable by the vehicle steering wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,609 issued to LaBranche sets forth a SPRUNG AXLE ASSEMBLY AND METHOD FOR TOY VEHICLES in which a toy vehicle includes a supporting chassis having a pair of suspended axles. An elongated generally planar beam spring is secured at the proximate midpoint of the vehicle chassis and resiliently supports the two transverse axles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,246 issued to Sullivan sets forth a RACING CAR HAVING A RESILIENT SUSPENSION SYSTEM which is adjustable. The vehicle wheels are permitted to flex substantially independently of each other with a positive control provided for the amount of flexibility of each wheel. Means are provided for supporting the vehicle drive motor in a desired operating position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,303 issued to McKay, et al. sets forth a SHIFT CONSOLE INCLUDING MEANS FOR FEEDING AND LAUNCHING VEHICLES which includes a launching station having a plunger-like launcher member for striking and launching a vehicle positioned at the station. A simulated gear shift lever connected to the plunger is used to operate the launching mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,084 issued to Masuda sets forth a MOVABLE TOY HAVING GEAR DISENGAGING MECHANISM AND GEAR CHANGING MECHANISM for use in a movable toy. The system disengages automatically between gears. Operational means provide for automatic release of an engaged gear in the event the driven side is forcibly stopped.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,866 issued to Suda sets forth an ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN TRAVELING TOY in which a transmission mechanism is disengaged through a manually operated changeover means from the driving power source when the energization of the power source is interrupted. The transmission mechanism is manually operated through a pivotable lever.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,962 issued to Dankman, sets forth a TOY VEHICLE having means for generating an engine sound simulation. The sound producing means further include means for producing a range of sounds through different gear ratios, squealing tires, and a crash. Means are also provided for simulated siren noises.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,427 issued to Accornero sets forth a TOY VEHICLE WITH NOISE MAKER which includes a closed rectangular resonating chamber and a hard flexible diaphragm forming the upper chamber surface. An idler wheel in the gear train between the vehicle's electric motor and the driven rear wheels has cam profiles mounted on its surface. A hammering pin extending through a rigid chamber wall rides on the cam and alternatively flexes and releases the diaphragm. The released diaphragm impacts a rigid stop causing diaphragm oscillations and a resonating sound within the chamber. The sound is produced twice with each revolution of the idler wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,879 issued to Tsui sets forth a TOY VEHICLE WITH FOUR WHEEL DRIVE having a chassis supporting a pair of parallel spaced axles with wheels fixed to the outer ends thereof. A motor connected to the axles includes an inertia flywheel and gear trains extending between the shaft and the axles so as to drive both axles unidirectionally and simultaneously provide for wheel drive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,375 issued to Goldfarb, et al. sets forth a SELF-POWERED FOUR WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLE having a battery powered motor and a pair of pinion drive shafts coupled through gear mechanism to four drive wheels supporting the vehicle chassis.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,776 issued to Jaworski, et al. sets forth a MOTOR DRIVEN WHEELED TOY WITH FLOATING DRIVEN AXLE having six support wheels and an internal motor drive system. A plurality of pinion gears are supported upon a common driven shaft coupled to the drive motor. Gear means couple each of the pinions to a respective one of the supporting vehicle axles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,557 issued to Kuna, sets forth a SHIFTABLE DRIVE SELF-PROPELLED TOY VEHICLE having a battery powered electric motor drive and a projecting shift lever extending upwardly from the vehicle. The shift lever is movable through a conventional shift pattern for operating transmission means which couple the drive motor to the axle in a variety of gear ratios. U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,305 issued to Kawakami, et al. sets forth a TOY VEHICLE WITH INERTIA WHEEL having an inertia type flywheel, a gear train driving mechanism and a sound generator supported within a vehicle body. The flywheel is coupled to the drive mechanism bought by a detachable clutch gear and continues to rotate when the wheels are stopped and the clutch is in neutral. The sound generator produces a siren sound as the flywheel rotates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,380 issued to Kennedy, et al. sets forth a TOY VEHICLE HAVING VARIABLE DRIVE powered by a single battery operated motor and having a shiftable transmission coupling the motor to the drive wheels. A gear shift lever operates the transmission means and extends upwardly through a slot in the toy vehicle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,947 issued to Weiland, et al. sets forth a SHIFTING MECHANISM FOR MOTORIZED TOY in which a toy vehicle includes an electric motor and electric power supply. A gear train connects the electric motor to an output shaft and a shift mechanism is connected to an upwardly extending shift lever such that the movement of the shift lever shift certain of the keys within the gear train to control the speed of the output shaft and the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,943 issued to Kennedy, et al. sets forth a MOTORIZED TOY VEHICLE propelled by a bidirectional miniature DC motor coupled by a clutch through a gear train to a wheel axle. A manually operated shift stick mechanism is operatively linked both to the clutch and to the polarity reversing switch coupled to the motor and the battery.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,416 issued to Stern, et al. sets forth a VEHICLE WITH ELECTRONIC SOUNDER AND DIRECTION SENSOR which is operable by being pushed along by a child user. Electronic circuitry capable of emitting a plurality of different sounds such as those produced by a full size truck are supported within the vehicle chassis.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have provided various toy vehicles including, in some instances, sound producing devices, there remains a continuous need in the art for evermore realistic and exciting sound producing toy vehicles.